The St. Thomas Aquinas College baseball team rallied to tie in the ninth inning and downed Queens College, 8-5 in 11 innings. The Spartans have won ten straight in East Coast Conference play and 12-of-13 overall to improve to 28-11 overall, 16-5 ECC, with Queens dropping to 13-21, 8-9.
What started as a pitchers' duel turned into one of the wilder and more exciting games of the season. STAC's Rob Frank and Joe Salinitri of Queens kept their opponents largely in check, with the score tied at 1-1 through seven innings. Stephen Sunday's RBI single in the second put the Spartans ahead and looked like it might hold up until the Knights scratched out the tying run in the fifth, ending Frank's string of scoreless frames at 27.1.
Drama was in high order in the sixth as each team took turns putting a runner at third with less than two outs, only to be held off the board. STAC finally broke through in the eighth when Mike Russo's league-leading sixth homer of the season once again put the visitors in front.
This time, Queens would have an answer, bringing in three runs against a trio of Spartan relievers of in the bottom half to take an apparent game-stealing 4-2 lead into the ninth. With Salinitri still on the hill trying to finish the complete game, Frank Salerno's one out single put the tying runs on board. Nick Barbalato's ground out would be a big one, moving both runners into scoring position.
Down to their last gasp, Stanley Susana's grounder was misplayed, then thrown away by shortstop Steven Varela, allowing the tying runs to score. Dan Diaz, who closed out the last of the eighth for STAC, remained strong on the mound, sending the game to extra inings.
Each team put a leadoff runner on in the 10th, but both were left stranded. Finally, with two out and none on, the visitors put together a big 11th-inning rally. Barbalato singled and advanced on a throwing error, which would again play a huge role when Susana followed with an RBI single, advancing to second on the late throw home.
Salinitri would finally be removed after 10.2 strong innings, and STAC would tack on big insurance runs. Russo brought in Susana with a double and scored on Kirshner's fourth hit of the day, an RBI single to left. Kirshner would eventually score on an Efrian Bautista single, making the score 8-4.
That would prove to be big as Diaz began tiring in the bottom half, retiring two batters but yielding a run and putting Knights on second and third before handing the ball to Jon Scott, who would proceed to hit his first batter, putting the tying runs on base. Queens would run out of rallies, however, with a game-ending grounder sending the Spartans to an ECC Tournament berth-clinching victory.
Diaz improved to 2-0 with the win, with Scott earning his first save. In addition to Kirshner's four hits, six different Spartans rapped out two hits each in the 18-hit attack.
The four-game series shifts to Provident Bank Park tomorrow, April 27, for a noon twin-bill before returning to Queens for the Spartans' regular-season final on Sunday. STAC has the conference by next weekend, when the other six ECC teams will conclude regular-season play.
ECC Standings (thru games of April 26)
W L Pct GB Gms Rem
xSt. Thomas Aquinas 16 5 .762 ----- 3
Molloy College 10 6 .625 3.5 8
Dowling College 10 7 .588 4.0 7
Univ of Bridgeport 9 7 .562 4.5 8
Queens College 8 9 .471 6.0 7
LIU-Post 5 12 .294 9.0 7
zMercy College 4 16 .200 11.5 4
x = clinched ECC Tournament berth
z = eliminated from ECC Tournament contention
Friday 4/26
St. Thomas Aquinas 8, @ Queens 5 (11)
Dowling 5, @ LIU-Post 4
Saturday 4/27
Queens @ St. Thomas Aquinas (2), 12:00
LIU-Post @ Dowling (2), 12:00
Bridgeport @ Molloy (2), 12:00
Mercy bye
Sunday 4/28
St. Thomas Aquinas @ Queens, 12:00
Dowling @ LIU-Post, 12:00
Molloy @ Bridgeport (2), 2:00
Mercy bye